Creepy Crawlies -- Sun., June 24

Cotulla, Texas:

"Creepy, crawly
Creepy, crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly crawly
Creepy, creepy, crawly crawly."
~The Who, Boris the Spider lyrics

Tonight, this is not about spiders. It's about beetles. South Texas has a record number of beetles, not to mention other bugs. Working on the night shift, I see many bugs under the tower lights.

I am not paranoid. When I feel something crawling on me, it REALLY is a bug. Tonight each time I have come in I have felt AND FOUND bugs crawling on me. 

One time in, I felt something on my ankle. In the dim light of night time, I saw a relatively large bug crawling on my left ankle. The bug took flight and landed on our dining room table light. The cats went nuts. The bug looked like a dragonfly while in flight, but wasn't because its long wings folded down at its sides.The bug got stuck in our lamp fixture, so I unscrewed the glass fixture and got the bug out...took it outside. It was harmless. 

Next time I came in, I felt something crawling on the front of my neck. I swiped at it and a longish, thick, segmented black beetle fell onto the table. That one got smooshed by me. It was a black blister beetle.

A little bit later I felt a bug on my forearm. A small, reddish beetle was walking down my arm. Haven't identified that one yet.

Just now, while typing, I felt something on my left ankle. I looked down and it was long, white and had a hard shell on the end...my shoelace. Ha ha. Maybe I am a little paranoid.

Here are pics of some nighttime bugs:

Field cricket--multitudes of these all over. Roadrunners love them!

Field crickets congregating at the watering hole (AKA where our air conditioner condensation drips)

Katydid?? Not sure what this is.

This web site from Texas A&M University is a wealth of information for identifying Texas bugs: Field Guide to Common Texas Insects. There's a lot to learn. Most insects are harmless to people. Although one bug we've seen a lot--a blister beetle--has a toxin in its body that can cause blisters on the skin. One of the cats tried to eat a blister beetle one night, but didn't. They backed off from it. Smart kitty kitties.

Also see my blog from May 26: Schuhplattler Polka for more on Texas bugs.

I can't believe I spent a whole blog on BUGS. Ewwww.

Speaking of which, Travel BUG out.

 

Never a Dull Moment -- Fri., May 11

 Cotulla, Texas:

Compared to rainy yesterday, today was gorgeous and about 84 degrees, 70% humidity (tolerable).

Bob's shift was pretty routine. Normal amount of traffic. Oh, except there was a big mud hole just past where they had been grading and putting rock down into the caliche. Trucks were nosediving into it. A grader came out and many truckloads of gravel were put down which the grader then smoothed into the roadbed of caliche dust.

I came on duty at 3:00 p.m. Bob went to the post office to pick up our mail. On the way back he stopped to visit Kit and Jerry. He had a wonderful time picking their brains about internet reception, gate guarding, past history...just a good, old-fashioned visit.

About 45 minutes after Bob left for town, I witnessed an accident inside our gate between two sand trucks. I won't bother you with the details. I did get some pictures of the damage, though.

Tire removed already. Damaged wheel.

Crunched license plate, damaged grill, hood crunched upward.

Assessing the damage.

That was the first incident on my shift. 

Next thing I know, trucks that had exited the gate onto Harvey Smith Rd south were all backing up into our gate to turn around, even the rock trucks that were supposed to put more rock down. When the grader guy got off shift around 10:40 p.m., he brought the grader in and parked it across from our rig (which is where he left his pick-up truck). I asked him what was going on down the road. 

He replied, "An inexperienced trucker got stuck in the hole, broke the axle and ruined the transmission. I tried to pull him out, but couldn't. Two other trucks combined tried to pull him out, but couldn't. The road is blocked. I've been sending everyone I can around another way. There's nothing more we can do tonight. A semi tow truck will be here in the morning. I'll be back first thing."

While the second incident wasn't exactly at our gate, it impacted where our truckers had to go to get here. And some who left had to back up 1/2 mile to turn around at our gate.

Oh, I forgot to mention, we have an excellent bird feeder. Our night lights attract all manner of moths, beetles, termites, lightning bugs, and who knows what else. There are no bats! During the day, all kinds of birds come to the generator/light stand and have easy pickin's of whatever ever bug buffet suits them. We have Bewick's wrens, mockingbirds, a male and female cardinal, and other birds I haven't identified yet. Today the Bewick's wren came within a few inches of my shoe. My nature moment for the day.

Kitty story: We have discovered what floats our cats' boats...flying insects--moths to be exact. (Beetles are exciting too, but just not as much fun.) A moth enters the 5er, intense hunter cat mode ensues. Both Sunnie and Bowie go nuts, leaping tall furniture in a single bound, climbing upholstered valances, staring down moths on the ceiling as if they can entrance them to fly around some more.

Yesterday Sunnie caught a good-sized moth. He proudly carried it around in his mouth, would let it go and catch it again. If Bowie got too close, Sunnie hissed and growled.

This evening there were plenty of moths to go around and both cats had their own playthings. They don't eat them (probably too fuzzy), just play with them and carry them around.  Apparently Sunnie does eat beetles.

"I see a moth. Yum!"

Two cats hunting.

As I'm sitting here typing the two cats just finished hunting some bug under the dining chairs and I can hear Sunnie's bug crunching noises from where I sit...sounds like a crunchy beetle, not a soft moth.

They wore themselves out. Some moths live on, but the cats are sleeping. By morning, we'll probably discover more dead moths.

More random pictures from the last few days:

These cats love playing in and around boxes! See those little holes...they make good spots for Bowie's paws to attack Sunnie.

Bewick's wren. It's there, really!

Equipment move

Bob doing his job.

Pad B before the flood.

Bowie

Springbok antelope running away from me again.

Grackle

Grackle.

Trailing edge of the front--May 10, 2012.

Trailing edge of the front -- May 10, 2012

Trailing edge of the front.

The storm that passed over us, leaving for the day.

Kitties playing.